My 388 is home

Herm

Herm

Well-known member
Well I made the trip to chicago today to deltronics and picked up my 388. The whole trip only took 7.5 hours after i had to make a detour so we could eat at my wifes favorite restuarant.

Took this bad boy down to the studio and fired it up all looks good all works well except all meter light,s are out checked the connection for those and the fuses but no cigar.

The unit works great other than that so I guess i will have to live with no lights on the meters.
 
Yeah, man, that's not right!

Maybe there's some followup on the meters! Could it be another voltage issue? Each VU meter has an individual light bulb. Maybe the connector's on backward, or something goofy like that?

Anyway, recording & playing back is a big step in the right direction, but full VU lights would be proper & fitting.

Call your tech,... ?
 
The restuarant is papa,s down in bollingbrook billy, its a Italian beef and pizza place. My wife grew up in bollingbrook.

The tech and I checked the bulbs out while I was there picking it up and it appears all of the bulbs are shot. Im guessing when the power supply went it took the bulbs with it.
 
That's a reasonable assumption, & too bad, too.

Well, I have a link to that type of bulb, if you're interested, but they're solder-in-jobbies. You'd have to gain full access to the VU meters, and split each one, removing the plastic cover from the face. It's another labor intensive job, for which the parts are only about $10. It's tech-labor time that you really pay high dollar for.
 
Ok thanks Reel im going to put it through some recording tommarrow to see how it does before i decide to put any more money in it. Now i need to order a phantom power unit for it.

Im ready for that colab now!
 

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That's a shame about the lamps.

It's cool it didn't take 6 months to get it serviced.

You just can't beat a good beef sandwich OR the pizza in the Chicago area. (I'm hungry now!)

Go Cubs!

:)
 
Did a little recording of me and the acoustic tonight and I think Herm likes this recorder:D
 
Suhweeeet...

I had the same type issue with my M-600. The power supply was a mess and after I got it fixed I realized that all the bulbs but three were burnt out. Probably happened at the same time.
 
I've got two vu light out on my MS-16 ever since I got it.

The stupid part of it is that I have the replacement bulbs from TASCAM but have been too busy/lazy to bother changing them.

I took a look at it once and it seemed like a boat-load of disassembly to do it.

From what I can tell of the exploded view diagrams, I would have to take apart the whole meter assembly to get to them.

If I do get adventurous, does anyone here have experience with getting to the bulb itself, once I have access to the vu meter casing?

Does the lens simply snap open and then a simple de-solder and re-solder of the bulb or is there more to it?

ARP?

Thanks! :)
 
WOW!!!

OH MY GOSH! HEY ARP, I've been looking for those bulbs for 5 years. COOOOOOL

But not for a VU. For my wifes colater. What is the voltage target? I have about a 3 to 4 volt feed. Man, if you have the right bulb, I'll need 10. They have a little circuit board for each bulb. I can only order the circuit boards and they are $78 each. Forget it. I even soldered flashlight bulbs to finish a job once. But now, if these work, I'll have to order them from Tascam, right? Anyway, let me know about how long they are too. I think the originals are about a half inch long. Thanks ARP.

Hey Herm, sounds pretty good hey? Can't wait to do some recording myself. I used a 388 for a few days in the 80's. Had a ball with it. Sounded great. Good luck with it Herm.
fitZ
:)
 
The link above, electronix dot com, sells the bulbs.

I'm not sure what voltage they are in the picture, but it's the closest thing I could find to the Tascam bulb. It's listed in the catalog as "Panasonic bulb", so go figure.

Electronix dot com sells the bulbs for $1.25/ea., and Tascam sells the bulbs for $8~$9/ea., so if you can find the above bulb in 8V at Electronix dot com, then that's your best deal.

I believe the Tascam VU meter bulb is rated an 8V bulb, solder-in little dudes.;)
 
NEVER CHANGE YOUR VU BULBS AGAIN!

I replaced the vu bulbs in my M-208 with super-bright LEDs – problem solved! They should outlast me now.

If anyone is interested in this solution I can dig up the Mouser LED and resistor part numbers.


Nice 388! I remember when they came out. I used to go to a local music store to visit the display model from time to time, but couldn't afford one back then.

Tim :cool:
 
Nice 388! I remember when they came out. I used to go to the local music store to visit the display model from time to time, but couldn't afford one back then.
Click to expand...

I remember those days too!

Going to the big music shop downtown in Toronto called, Long & McQuade.

They had the 388 or Studio8 on display at their store in the pro-audio department and wanted close to six grand for it, when it was new!

So, Herm, if you ever thought you spent too much money on yours, think of the poor guy who bought it originally and paid full retail!

Cheers! :)
 
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